Automobile-buffer



G. A. LYQN.

AUTOMOBILE BUFFER.

APPLICATION HLED APR. 11

Patented Dec. 23 1919.

GEORGE ALBERT LYON, 0 1 PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMOBILE-BUFFER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 23, 1919.

Application lllCd April 11, 1918. Serial No. 227,866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE ALBERT LYON, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Philadelphia, Philadelphia county, State of Pennsylvania, have made a certain new and useful Invention Relating to Automobile-Buffers, of which the following is a specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, which forms part of the same.

This invention relatesespecially to resilient or spring strip buffers for use on Ford or similar automobiles or other vehicles in which the rearwardly extending attaching members are oppositely inclined or bent into reinforcing diagonal position, so that they are considerably stiffened against lateral vibration without losing their vertical rigidity to an undesirable extent. These attaching members may have rearward anchoring extensions formed integral therewith so as to extend a considerable distance backward along the frame members to which they may be bolted or secured as by bolting an inturned end of such. an anchoring extension to the frame where the usual drip pan bolt is located. These diagonal attaching members arenot only stifier and stronger against lateral vibration and collision impact, but they may, if desired, be clamped substantially flat against the inclined lamp brackets so as to give a rigid and strong attachment for the buffer mem bers. These attaching members may have forwardly and outwardly curved portions at their front ends which may be bolted or otherwise connected to the front or impact receiving members of the buffer which may be forwardly bowed in substantially uniformly curved shape, if desired, and these impact receiving members may overlap and reinforce each other adjacent the middle of the buffer and be bolted or otherwise connected at these portions.

In the accompanying drawing showing in a somewhat diagrammatic way illustrative embodiments of the invention,

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the buffer attached to a Ford automobile, parts of which are shown in dotted lines.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse section taken substantially along the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the buffer; and

Fig. 4 shows the buffer when disconnected and arranged for shipping.

The front or impact receiving member of the buffer may be of any suitable form and constructionand it may be advantageously formed of a plurality of overlapping spring strips, such as 19, 20, which may as indicated in Fig. 3 be forwardly bowed and i have substantially uniform curvature so as to give a pleasing appearance to the finished buffer and allow l atcral adjustment of these impact receiving members when it is desired to have a louder of adjustable width to fit different width vehicle frames. Any suitable connecting means may be used to connect these front members preferably in a vertically rigid manner. For a Ford au tomobile buffer connector bolts, such as 22, may be conveniently used which may have a convex or boss-shaped head in the front of the buffer member and extend through holes or connecting apertures, such as 23, in the spring strips 19, 20. If desired, the bolts may be formed with polygonal or other non-circular shanks, such as 21, to fit with 121 corresponding holes in one or both of the spring strips which are tightly connected as by screwing home the nuts 2% on these bolts.

The spring strip attaching members 5, 6 may have forwardly and outwardly curved portions terminating in the ends 7, 8 which are arranged substantially parallel to the adjacent portions of the impact receiving membersand securely clamped or connected thereto by any suitable connectors. 'U-bolt connectors such as 16, are desirable for this purpose and as indicated may extend through suitable holes 26' in the cooperating members so not only to frictionally hold them together but to maintain them in substantial vertical alinement when the nuts 18 on the bolt shanks are screwed down on the lock washers 17, for example. In order to secure greater lateral rigidity in these at taching members they may with advantage have their rearwardly extending portions oppositely vertically inclined or bent about their axes into diagonal position so as to mutually reinforce and stiffen this part of the buffer against lateral vibration or yielding, while at the same time sufficient vertical rigidity is retained in these spring strips so that they are not undesirably weakened against vertical running vibration. This deis desirable to have the front ends of these attaching members substantially vertical adjacent the impact receiving portions of the buffer and from this point the inclination may gradually increase as shown in Fig. 3 until the substantially straight rearwardly extending part of these attaching members is reached which may be oppositely inclined at about 45 degrees or so from the vertical as indicated in Fig. 2.

In some cases these attaching members may be extended to a greater or less degree to form anchoring extensions which may be conveniently bolted directly to the vehicle frame at a considerable distance back of the radiator or front portion in some instances. Vith the ordinary F 0rd automobile the frame members 1 are substantially straight up to about the front of the hood 1 as indicated in Fig. 1, and the drip pan 28 is usually bolted to the bottom flange of each of these frame members by suitable bolts, such as 12, passing therethrough, see Fig. 2. The lamp brackets 2, 3, bolted to and extending diagonally out from the frame members adjacent the front of the machine make it diflicult to attach a bumper to the frame without special fittings or connections, but this oppositely inclined diagonal arrangement of the attaching members may be utilized to have such oppositely inclined attaching members lie against and if desired be clamped to these inclined lamp brackets near the frame members. For this purpose one or more U-bolt attaching clamps, such as lt, may be used adjacent each lamp bracket, and if desired extend through holes punched or otherwise formed in the attaching members 5, (5, so that the nuts 15 together with the lock washers 25, if desired, tightly hold these parts together. The anchoring extensions may be formed with the inturned ends 9, 10 having holes through which extend the usual or special pan bolts 12 having, if desired, nuts 11 on the inside of the frame flange. In this way the anchoring extensions are firmly and strongly secured to the frame and the U-bolt attaching clamps provide a rigid and strong connection for the buffer members near the front of the automobileframe so that the free ends of the strips forming the impact receiving or front members of the buffer are rigidly and strongly held in protective position in front of the automobile wheels. The use of U-bolt connectors and attaching clamps is advantageous in this connection because it furnishes a double security against loosening, the U-loolt still remaining in position if one of the nuts has become loosened or even lost. The U-bolt attaching connector 16 is desir able for this reason and also because it stiffens and alines the two buffer members through which it passes and at the same ance to the buffer front as indicated in Fig. 1.

As previously indicated the buffer may be readily assembled and clamped to the automobile by practically any garage man or car owner without special tools or instructions and the buffer is composed of such shaped and sized parts as make a compact shipping package, Fig. 4 indicating one form in which the members may be arranged for this purpose. It is also evident that the buffer elements may be quickly and conveniently bent and fabricated and given the desired spring temper which imparts to them a maximum of strength and resilience to take up a heavy collision impact and pro tect the automobile.

This invention has been described in connection with a number of elements, forms, proportions, parts, arrangements, materials, methods of connection and use, to the details of which disclosure the invention is not of course to be limited, since what is claimed as new and what is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim 1. The automobile buffer adapted for use on Ford or similar automobiles and comprising a resilient front portion having connecting portions and outwardly extending free ends, cooperating spring strip attaching members having forwardly and outwardly extending portions and forward connecting portions to engage the adjacent ends of the buffer front portion, attaching con nectors to secure said attaching members to the front portion of the buffer, said attaching members having oppositely vertically inclined reinforcing diagonal portions to the rear of said curved portions and having iiitegral anchoring extensions adapted to be bolted to the automobile frame members and U-bolt attaching clamps passing through holes in said attaching members and adapted to extend around the inclined lamp brackets of the automobile to clamp said attaching members against said lamp brackets.

The automobile buffer adapted for use on Ford or similar automobiles and comprising a resilient front portion having. connecting portions and free ends, cooperating spring strip attaching members having forwardly and outwardly extending portions and forward connecting portions to engage the adjacent ends of the buffer front portion, attaching connectors to secure said attaching members to the front portion of the buffer, said attaching members having oppositely inclined reinforcing diagonal portions inclined at about 15 from the vertical located to the rear of said curved portions and having integral. anchoring extensions adapted to be bolted to the automobile and time gives a pleasing and finished appearattaching clamps to clamp said attaching members against the automobile lamp brackets.

3. The automobile buffer adapted for use on Ford or similar automobiles, and comprising an adjustable length resilient strip front member having connecting portions and free ends adapted to extend into protective position adjacent the automobile wheels, cooperating spring strip attaching members having forwardly and outwardly extending curved portions, and connecting portions adapted to engage and be detachably secured to the connecting portions of said front member, and attaching 'U-bolt connectors to secure said attaching members to said connecting portions of said front member, said attaching members having oppositely vertically inclined reinforcing diagonal portions to the rear of said curved portions and having integral anchoring extensions provided with inturned ends adapted to be secured beneath the automobile frame members and attaching clamps to secure said attaching members to the inclined lamp brackets of the automobile.

4:. The automobile buffer adapted for use on Ford or similar automobiles, and comprising a front member having connecting portions and free ends, cooperating spring strip attaching members having forward.

portions and free ends, cooperating spring strip attaching members having forward curved portions, and connecting portions adapted to be secured to the connecting portions of said front member, said attaching members having oppositely vertically inclined reinforcing diagonal portions to the rear of said curved portions.

6. The automobile buffer adapted for use on Ford or other generally similar automobiles, and comprising relatively wide thin resilient strip and provided with free outwardly extending end portions, said bulfer comprising a front member having connecting portions and resilient strip attaching members adapted to be connected to an automobile and to be detachably connected to said connecting portions of said front member, said attaching members having oppositely vertically inclined rear reinforcing diagonal portions to give increased lateral stiffness.

7. The automobile buffer adapted for use on Ford or other generally similar automobiles, and comprising resilient strip and provided with free outwardly extending end portions, said buffer comprising a front member having connecting portions and re silient strip attaching members adapted to be connected to said connecting portions of said front member, said attaching members having oppositely vertically inclined rear reinforcing diagonal portions to give increased lateral stiffness.

8. The automobile buffer adapted for use on Ford or other generally similar automobiles, and provided with free outwardly extending end portions, said buffer comprising a front member having connecting portions and resilient strip attaching members adapt ed to be connected to said connecting portions of said front member, said attaching members having oppositely vertically in clined reinforcing diagonal portions to give increased lateral stiffness.

GEORGE ALBERT LYON. 

